Journey Diary

This is my diary of bike rides to different parts of India. Roads & People I saw through Bike Rider's eyes.... WELCOME to the biker's world !!

Mumbai - Jawhar- Trimbak- Nashik

Our Ride

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Dhoom 2 – Ride to Jawhar – Trimbak – Nasik

Dhoom 2 – Ride to Jawhar – Trimbak – Nasik

I thought about this name for this ride blog , just because it was a sequel to our previous ride ( Shirdi ). Just like Dhoom 2 after Dhoom 1 , just as hit as first part.

In our previous ride we went to Shirdi and came back through Nashik – Trimbak – Jawhar route. So on that ride while coming back , astonishing beauty of that road in monsoon really made us ride on the same route again. While coming back from Shirdi only, we already had decided about our next ride – Mumbai – Manor – Jawhar – Trimbak – Nasik.

So, ride began on 25th July @ 7.00 am from fountain hotel. After a brief photo session all riders hit NH 8 towards Ahmedabad. First halt decided at Manor , 58KMS from Bhayender. Weather was pleasant and Gang was big. What else you need for a ride ?

Instead of going to Manor and stopping there for breakfast , we stopped at Kamat's , 4 kms from Manor phata. It was a wise decision taken by our own Food Minister – Twinspark Sr. At Manor there's just a tea stall with some vada pav and bhajia. So, everybody agreed to stop at Kamat's and have our breakfast. What an Idea Sirji !! Upma , Misal pav , Vada Sambhar, Batata vada , Chai...... Ordered ....... & finished in minutes ..... Ready to hit road...... Twinspark Sr. Again Instructed Twinspark Jr. “ Second right at Manor from here “ ..... “HMMM” “ Malum Hai “. Twinspark Jr. He was leading the pack. So We started again towards manor, following Twinspark Jr. And as a tradition in every ride , he just zipped past the Manor Phata , following him Varun also passed the road. Twinspark missed the right and went ahead towards Dahanu. Hmmmm...... I went after them to stop them, rode for almost 18 Kms, but couldn't find them, so came back at Manor. Meanwhile somebody called up Varun to tell them, they have gone in wrong way. He received the call and confirmed that he is coming back, While our Leader already had reached Charoti Naka. So he called up and told us that he will meet us at Jawhar directly. So, Leadership was taken over by Twinspark Sr. We started back towards Jawhar. Once you enter Manor and proceed towards Vikramgadh , beauty of nature starts unfolding itself . Starts giving you the complex about your own living conditions and concrete jungle we live in. All small villages along the road , small rice fields, villagers working in those rice fields, mild scent of trees and flowers and soil. Cows and goats grazing in the fields ... perfect setting for tension free life. It actually makes you forget about everything , even you don't feel yr bike under you. You are just flying with the wild flowing wind. In 20 mins or so you reach to Vikramgadh. This is the last major village on the route to Jawhar. Nothing much to say about this village. It's a market place actually and kind of Junction from where one road goes towards Bhiwandi and one towards Manor – Mumbai. There are one or two nature resorts in Vikramgadh , if one want to take halt. After crossing vikramgadh , you are in some different world altogather. Ghat starts through dense forest , good road leads you to Jawhar 22 kms from Vikramgadh. So we crossed Vikramgadh and started riding on the heavenly Ghats through dense forest. Only sound on the road was of our machines and birds chirping.

Small waterfalls and steams were plenty , but somehow we resisted. We were about 8 kms away from Jawhar, and we spotted medium size , very friendly waterfall , and then we could not resist ourselves. Everybody parked their bikes at roadside , removed shoes and just jumped under the waterfall. Chilled water , shark even said that water is very sweet. I Guess nobody dared drink it to taste it, so Shark's point accepted without doubt. Entire OnM gang was freaked out. Clearly they were enjoying the entire set up immensely to the fullest. Jumping here and there like little kids , screaming under chilling waterflow. Every man has a child inside him.... Right guys ? Photo session started , with some decent posses and with some non decent / vulgar posses ...hahahaha..... courtesy SHARK. I tell you , once he wears dark goggles , he becomes Mafia cum hip hop artist. Starts screaming “YO” with finger guns in both hands. Hahahaha...... Twinspark Sr. and TC went ahead to Jawhar to meet Twinspark Sr. who already had arrived at Jawhar. Photo session ended and we started towards Jawhar once again. Merely 8 kms away. Reached.

Jawhar is bigger village than Vikramgad. Must be Because Tribal King “Jayabarao Mukne” and then his dynasty lived there. The village is a paradise of various Picnic Spots / Points like Hanuman Point, Sunset Point, Jai Vilas Palace, Natural Waterfalls, Jai Sagar Dam, Jeejamata Udyan and many mores. With the highest Rainfall and Fog in the region, for many it is "MINI MAHABALESHWAR". About 1800 ft above the Sea Level, and embellished by beautiful natural 'Waterfalls', 'Hills', 'Trees', 'Fog'.

Our Plan was to reach Trimbakeshwar for lunch. So everybody decided to Just visit Hanuman Point at Jawhar and skip Palace. It started drizzling when we reached Hanuman point. Beautiful point to be at. You can see all small villages in belt of Vada – Mokhada- Jawhar , downhill. We found one solitary rock at the end of the cliff and again photo session started. This time few adventurous poses on the rock. Rocking !! Gushing wind and drizzling rain had made the atmosphere impeccable. Descending cloud cover made it misty. Village kids were amused to see all our bikes and all the bikers giggling with joy. We were smaller than those kids at that moment. Photo session ended with all the memories captured in innovative angles. We started towards Trimbakeshwar. Secluded road , almost nobody on the Road, zero traffic , few pilgrims walking towards Trimbak to attend Nag Panchami Festival. Superb !! Tribal Energy has just come back from his Alps & German Off roading bike ride. So has new found love towards Off Roading. He along with Tribal Energy tried their hands at Off Road biking in the green fields. While on our way to Trimbak We witnessed very very funny thing. A helmet wearing driver was driving a tractor with front wheel removed altogather. And he was driving this 3 wheel tractor for too long. At first we were amused to see , why would he drive the tractor with helmet on ? Then , when we saw that his front Wheel is “ Gayab” then we understood the significance of helmet. Later on in the day Bhupi told us ( after two pegs down ) “ Abe Punjab me Tractor aise hi chalate hai “ , no logic ..... nothing “ bus aise hi chalate hain “....... Hahahahahahaah !

Ok so we reached Trimbak at 2.15 pm. Not bad again , after such a fun frolic ride we are just 15 mins behind our schedule. We entered Trimbakeshwar and decided to have lunch first. Policemen were recruited on all the gates, so they drove us towards parking lot , which is almost a KM away from main place. Amazingly Nobody stopped Twinsparks ..... I don't know..how and why ... while we were walking all the way , these guys coolly came inside riding their bulls. “Sala”...” Tum Log Ch***a hai “ “Bindaas leke aane ka gaadi “ “ Abhi bolo khana kidhar khane ka “ “ 1km pe ek mast dhaba hai “ finally we decided to have lunch in Trimbak only , because we wanted to visit origin of Godavari .. Brahmagiri. Kunal Menon know one hotel there which serves good food. We reached the hotel and ordered our food. Ok food with Crispy flies around in hoards and real attitude of hotel staff. They were behaving like , they are doing some favor on us by serving food to us. But to my understanding this is not one off experience , you go any pilgrimage and you will find the same attitude. Just faces are different each time. So at 4.00 we finished our food and started towards “Brahmagiri “ Origin of “Dakshin Ganga – Godavari”

Little History :

Gautam Rishi Accidentally Killed a holy cow , which was actually Parvati's Friend Jaya. All rishis and sadhus advised Gautam , bath in the Ganges would set him free of his sins. He He was too old to go to Ganga , so he worshiped lord Shiva , who was controlling Ganga. Pleased with Gautam's worship Lord Shiva Appeared at Brahmagiri. Ganga Refused to part with Shiva , so refused to appear. Angry Shiva did Tandav at Brahmagiri. In a rage he dashed his jata on the rock ( Jatashankar ), frightened Ganga appeared at brahmagiri. Ganaga Appeared in south India thats why she is Dakshin Ganga. People who can not go to Ganga, can come to Dakshin Ganga.

Gautam Rishi wanted to take bath in Ganga , but she kept on appearing from different places , so finally Gautam rishi surrounded the river with enchanted grass and put a vow to her. The flow stopped there and the tirtha thus came to be called Kushavarta. It is from this Kushavarta that the river Godavari flows up to the sea. Famous Kumbh mela takes place at Trimabakeshwar and first holly bath takes place at Kushavarta. One of the 12 jyotirlinga – Jatashankar – Developed by Nanasaheb Peshwa after building Temple with full black stones.

Ok, so we decided to visit Brahmagiri – source of River Godavari. Twinsparks were exhausted , and decided to resort to Nashik, where we had booked our stay. Everybody else started towards Brahmagiri. It's about 400 steps up. Trimbakeshwar has boon from Lord Indra , God of Rain , so it rains heavily there. 400 steps - 4248 feet ascending with heavy down pour , was not all easy. Atleast not as easy as we thought. Now I can safely admit it..haha ! No place for shelter no place to hide , just keep walking , drenched in rains. Everybody understood the importance of fitness. After almost every 30 35 steps we were stopping , sitting on steps , catching breath and continuing ahead. Rod , with his long long legs was leading the pack here and he was just surging ahead of everybody. Here we must appreciate spirit of Hanelle ( Piku ) . She was enjoying this experience , the rain as much as we were. This lady never complained about anything in entire ride. Always was smiling and clicking the pics. Tremendous spirit she showed. Rains were getting heavier , and strong water streams had started flowing downwards from steps. So now we were climbing against the water flow , rains, and our own breath. “Will power boss !!” “ Wills Power Boss !! “ against all odds, not for a single moment anybody thought about stopping or returning back. Those mountains , huge Milky Waterfalls , surrounding clouds and mist , Green velvet covered hills would not let us go back unfinished. We got to Reach Brahmagiri to witness the spectacle. Indeed it was a spectacle. 10 – 11 huge Waterfalls falling down from Anjneri mountains , Clouds playing Merry – Go – Round , Wind tossing the rain , up down left right ...... nature was it's sporty best. It took us 1 and half hour to reach top. Guys visited Godavari origin, offered prayers. Also visited Gautam Rishi Ashram , which is located on next hilltop. Clicked Pictures , Group photos. Octopus has great Cam , I really really hope that he has clicked great pictures of that breath takingly scenic spot. At 6.15 pm we started descending back. Now it was a easy task.. Hmmmm...... entire time Kunal Menon was Gayab. Where was he ? Hahahahaha....... believe it ...... he was sleeping on steps under heavy rain. He was damn tired and didn't had sleep previous night. So he chose to take a nap under the rains , while we came back. While coming back we all waited for hot cup of tea and there we saw Kunal menon walking towards us , with sleepy eyes. Hahahahaha ! In next 20 mins were at the bottom of the mountain from where we started our climb. Piece of cake !!

Reached base village , Trimbakeshwar. Had our much needed garam garam chai..... nothing much refreshing and needed when you have done a hard climb trek in pouring rains , than a cup of boiling hot tea. Almost 8.00 pm in the night. Time to head to Nashik about 28 kms away , where we had pre-booked accommodation at Hotel Rajmahal. Initially we had booked three rooms for 14 guys, but then we need to book one more room ( only available room in the hotel ), to accommodate 20 guys. Hmmmm ...2 guys added to tally of 20. two more guys from OnM Gautam and Vipul joined us at Nashik. 22 total. But we were more than happy to accommodate everybody in given space. After all Riding bike in a group means a camaraderies. Knowing each other, having fun with each other and standing by each other.

Night had fallen , and was calling for Daru ...... Everybody arranged their own Daru .... Ordered for Food and all the riders assembled in one room to laugh the night out. Entire OnM Group started playing cards. Started with rummy and switched on to “Teen Patti” later. I Think “Rod” was winning and they were playing Teen Patti on credit. I have understood from “Rod's” colleague , that he forgets the previous night after drinks. So I think the guys who were loosing out to “Rod” were very relaxed to loose , as he was expected to forget about his winning, next morning. While they were engrossed in loud card games, We were engrossed in chatting and talking and drinking and laughing. Room with 20 guys , full on with daru.... can you imagine the noise level ? I guess it must have crossed police permitted decibel level too. Finally Hotel guys called up at 1.30 am, to request us , “ scream slowly” hahahahaha , how can anybody scream slowly ? So we decided to do favor on Hotel and other residents and resorted to bed. Next day we had a plan to get up early and visit Someshwar , on our way back.. Hahahahaha........ Get up early !!...... hahahahahaaha !!

Day 2 :

As expected Twinsparks were ready by 9.00 am. But lot of guys were still in the bed. So we served notice, we are leaving by 10.00 am. At 10.00 am everyone was ready. Miracle ! We should have announced 9.30 am. After settling hotel bills , We started towards Someshwar. Now there's nothing much to talk about this place , I mean historically , but this place is beautiful. Lord Shiva temple on river bed of Godavari. Nice setting. This place has one more significance for Nashik City. It's a Lover's Paradise. Almost 50 % couples who are looking out for some privacy come here to spend time. So eventually in search of Privacy they flock this place in abundance , and finish sitting very close to each other. So close that if boyfriend talks to his Girlfriend, Another Girlfriend of Another boyfriend replies him back, thinking her Boyfriend has spoken something. Anyway, we were not there to listen to the love crooning , no ..no..just clarifying myself ...hahaha......we were there to enjoy this River and temple setting. One more place was on the agenda for visit. Gangapur Dam. This Dam provides almost 80 % of water to Nashik City. So after Someshwar , we started towards Gangapur Dam. It's another picnic spot for Nashikites. About 4 Kms away from Someshwar. After reaching Gangapur Dam, Tribal Energy again started Off Road Biking. Hmmm.... Octopus joined ..... I also joined...... Varun Joined..... Bhupi joined. A muddy narrow road towards Dam. Led us to the spot. Again a photo session. Then few acrobatic bike tricks on uphill by Octopus, Bhupi, Ashish , Varun. Again a Photo Session. 1.30 pm in the watch. We had to start our journey back. Stopped at one hotel for lunch. As expected he took almost an hour to prepare the food. But nobody seemed to be in hurry. Logic was instead of 8 pm we will reach at 10 pm. Whats the big deal ! So finally after finishing our food, we started our journey back to Mumbai by same route we came. By the time we reached Trimbakeshwar , rain had started pouring again. “Indra Dev ka Ashirwad ...aur kya ?” waited for few mins, but there was no sign of rain slowing down. So we decided to start riding in the rain itself. We decided to stick togather and ride real slow. Hahaha...... something has to happen if the entire ride has gone smoothly. Kaput........ my Bull suddenly stopped . Barely 5 kms away from Trimbak. Octopus and Tribal were with me. Somehow we figured out that something must be wrong with Point. Yes , correct, water had gone inside the point. ( all bullet owners know that what this nuisance called “Point” is all about ). did something with the point , loosened or tightened ( I don't know what we did ) the some screw and bull started. Wow.. now we know, what to do , if it again stops. Fortunately it did not. Bullet has it's own mind, it decides on it's own when to run and when to stop. It's not like slave Japanese bike, runs on owners command. Hey hey.... I 'm not finished, if it's not my Bull, it doesn't mean that there would be no other problem.

We started riding the in ghat back to our home. We were almost in the heaven. Big Big blue mountains, flowing river, milky waterfalls , descended clouds had made the atmosphere heavenish. Our souls were almost detached from our bodies and only our bodies were riding our machines, while we were birds flying in the wild. Screeeeccchhhhh............... we stopped .......... Amul's Enticer ....... gone... refused to start. Hmmmmm....... Octopus checked few things, engine speed, petrol flow , plug..... something happened ... Enticer started .. I think it was combination of all the faults. Hahahaha ! 15 kms from there.... Enticer stopped again.... again octopus did some first aid ..... it started. Octopus was like a compounder at doctors place... when doctor is not there and patient come , he does his own analysis , and gives some medicine , hoping it will cure the patient. Miraculously patient also responds to this treatment and gets cured for time being. Our machines were all those hopeful patients at compounder's helm. So, Enticer started back , we reach Jawhar. Now it was was almost 6.30 pm. Locals say it's dangerous to drive on this road in the night , because of it's notorious place for road robbery and snatching. We decided to stop directly at Manor now on highway 50 Kms away. Road is good , so we should be there by 7.30 pm. Not to be..... Enticer would not give us the permission to do so. It stopped thrice and asked for compounder's attention. Amazingly, nobody minded it. After this rejuvenating ride, everyone was in great spirit and we slowly moved on towards Manor. At 8.30pm we were at Manor. Hmmm...... Time to say Good bye to all, coz after this there was every chance of loosing each other in the night and heavy traffic of NH 8. We had our Chai and Sutta at Manor and started our journey back to respective homes. Day before when we rode on the opposite lane, distance looked ridiculously less. 58 Kms is like 1 hr drive MAN ! No to be . Road towards mumbai is in pathetic condition and we had to find road to drive our bike through BIG craters and ditches. 15 days back this road was Butter and now this road is butter on hacksaw. Anyway , after two hours few of us reached Hotel fountain. Our last stop of this Ride, just to say final good bye and handshake. Man... you don't need country side , hills and rocky patches for Off road biking, those who want to experience off road biking can go to mumbai to manor take U turn and come back. Complete back massaging experience. Or rather Back breaking Experience. Hennele was still smiling... amazing...... it's not easy for pillion rider to sit there for two hours, while rider doesn't know whether you r on his back seat or on the road.

Anyway, we bid adieu to each other and headed back to homes. That brings us to “The End” of Dhoom 2 ...... very very eventful and lifetime ride for all of us.

Do we have any Sanjay Gadhvi ( Director of Dhoom ) to make Triology of Dhoom ? I would be certainly starring again .... and I think most of us will do the same ........ Cheers !! See you again on the Road !! Till then Dhoom machale ....... Dhoom machale ............ DHOOM !